British PM Rishi Sunak keen to clinch FTA with India by April: Report
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India in time for Easter, which falls at the end of March 2024, according to a UK media report. The India-UK FTA talks began in January last year, aimed at significantly enhancing the GBP 36-billion bilateral trading partnership. A new round of negotiations, expected to be the last, is set to start early in the new year after the thirteenth round concluded on December 15.
«Prime Minister Mr Sunak and India's premier Narendra Modi are said to be keen to get the deal wrapped up by April,» reads a report in the 'Daily Express' newspaper updated on Saturday.
«It is hoped a deal can be signed and sealed before India's general elections begin on April 1,» it claims.
The newspaper quoted a source close to the trade talks on the UK side to say that a lot of progress has been made, but some of the «hardest» aspects remain pending.
«We have made a lot of progress, but the last stuff to do is the hardest. We have negotiators out there most weeks going through the details, and we have a deadline of their elections,» the source told the newspaper.
«Both Rishi Sunak and Modi remain keen, so it's just a case of seeing if we can get it over the line,» the source added.
The UK hopes an FTA will open up its trade in Scotch whisky and cars to India, as well as services and investment opportunities. Meanwhile, India would seek better access to its manufactured goods and services and a deal on professional visas.
With both India and the UK heading into a general election year in 2024, signing off on a trade agreement has taken on particular urgency before leaders on both sides get into campaign mode.
